Cleaning tools, such as mops, are commonly used in order to clean surfaces and other objects found in industry and residential settings. Mops typically include an elongated handle with a mop head attached to the handle. A disposable wipe or pad component may be attached to the mop head, the wipe configured to pick up dirt, lint, fluid, and other material from a surface when the mop head is moved over the surface. The disposable wipe may be designed to pick up these materials in a dry or wet state. Once the disposable wipe reaches the end of its design life, the user may remove the wipe from the mop head and subsequently dispose of the wipe. At such time, a new disposable wipe may be applied to the mop head in order to resume or start cleaning.
Various configurations have been used in the art to removably attach the disposable wipes to the mop head or other cleaning implement. For example, one conventional method utilizes attaching means provided on the top side of the mop head, such as slits, clips, or other mechanical means formed into the mop head. The wipes have lateral edges that are pulled by the user so as to extend over onto the top side of the mop head to be tucked into retaining slits or otherwise engaged by clips or other devices on the top side of the mop head.
It is also known in the art to utilize hook fasteners disposed on the bottom or “application” side of the mop head, the hook fasteners engaging directly with the wipe material, or with hook compatible material provided on the cleaning wipe, to secure the wipe relative to the mop head. Reference is made, for example, to U.S. Pat. No. 5,419,015 that describes a mop head with a work pad removably attached thereto by hook fasteners located in recessed areas of the application side of the mop head.
The bottom surface of a conventional mop head is generally flat and the disposable wipe is pressed flat against the surface to be cleaned, which typically is also a substantially uniform flat surface. While smaller particles may be adequately removed and retained by the mop head, cleaning in this manner is often ineffective at capturing and retaining larger particles, such as accumulations of dust or lint, from the surface to be cleaned. For instance, balls of dust and/or lint may be shed from the disposable wipe either during cleaning, or after the mop head has been lifted up from the surface that was being cleaned. In this regard, it has also been proposed in the art to configure disposable wipes or pads intended for use with mops with multiple cleaning functionalities, including an “abrasive” or scrubbing feature. For example, the cleaning surface of the wipe may include raised areas or “tufts” of increased density to provide the wipe with an abrasive characteristic, as well as a desired degree of absorbency. Reference is made, for example, to U.S. Pat. No. 6,797,357 that describes a disposable cleaning wipe that may be used with a mop head, wherein the wipe has a macroscopic three-dimensional surface topography created by peaks formed in the wipe material. It is alleged that this structure provides the wipe with the enhanced ability to pick up and retain particulate dirt particles.
The UK patent GB 2031039 discloses a disposable wipe for a dust mop made from a nonwoven fabric having areas of varying degrees of embossing. These areas possess different degrees of structural integrity and a desired cleaning characteristic for the working face of the wipe.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,741,941 discloses a nonwoven web useful as a cleaning wiper having projections separated by land areas. The projections render the wipes particularly useful for scrubbing applications.
Conventional disposable wipes for use with mop heads may also be a composite or laminate of different materials that provide the wipe with different functionalities. For example, an abrasive material may form a layer of a multi-layer product that also includes an absorbent layer.
The conventional methods for increasing the versatility of disposable wipes intended for use with a cleaning implement, such as a mop, involve significant and relatively expensive modifications to the wipe material. The present invention seeks to provide an improved cleaning device utilizing a disposable cleaning wipe with multiple cleaning functionalities while avoiding relatively complicated and often cost prohibitive modifications to the wipe material.